Chapter Six #2
She walked backwards from the pool deck, still mesmerised by the magnetic potency of his gaze as it kept her entrapped.
Ensnared. Enraptured. She knew she had to turn away at some point otherwise she might end up in the garden or over the edge of the cliff from where the pool was situated, affording it the most magnificent view of Lake Como and its surrounds.
It was the most beautiful setting and of course it would make a spectacular hotel.
But a part of her still wondered why Vic was so determined to redevelop his childhood home where his earliest memories and only memories of his loving father echoed in the grand old place.
Watching him in the pool playing with his little niece made her wonder if his father had played with him in the same happy and relaxed way.
But in spite of the loving relationship he had had with his father, Vic insisted he didn’t want a family of his own.
But would he, like she had just minutes before when holding Katerina, feel a ripple of longing that couldn’t be ignored?
A desire for more than being on the earth to make more and more money but to build something for the future, a legacy of love and connection with a family of his own.
By the time she shed her clothes and put on her bright pink bikini and then applied liberal amounts of sunscreen and covered herself in a matching pink gauzy wrap, it was some time before she got back down to the pool area.
But Katerina was nowhere in sight and only Vic was in the pool, swimming up and down in an effortless, graceful freestyle.
He must have sensed her approach because he stopped at the end closest to where she was standing and scraped his fingers through his wet hair to comb it back from his face.
‘Lucia has taken Katerina in for a bath and a snack,’ he said, his gaze running over her long pink wrap. ‘That colour suits you.’
‘Th-thank you.’ She was teaching herself to accept compliments from him rather than deflect them as had been her lifelong habit, but it wasn’t easy.
She hugged her arms around her middle, suddenly feeling shy and gauche.
Her mother would have strutted all the way along the pool deck, removing her wrap to let it float to the ground in a silky whisper in her wake.
She would have tossed the mane of her long blond hair over one slim shoulder and batted her eyelash extensions at whoever was looking her way, which was usually anybody with a pulse.
Speaking of pulses… Addie’s was going a little haywire.
She had expected to come back down to have a quick dip with Katerina as a chaperone.
But now she was intensely aware of being alone with Vic Jacobetti.
She looked at the clear blue water of the pool with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.
She ran the tip of her tongue over her lips, then caught her bottom lip between her teeth, her heartbeat racing at the thought of taking off her wrap and uncovering her body to his appraising gaze.
But then she somehow garnered a tiny remnant of courage and untied the wrap from around her waist and peeled it away from her body.
She laid it with exaggerated care on a sun lounger next to the pool, but she was conscious of Vic’s dark gaze tracking her every movement.
She turned back to face him and took in a shaky breath.
‘Okay, let’s do this…’ If only she sounded a little more confident.
If only she sounded cool and sophisticated.
If only she could get this over without making a complete and utter fool of herself.
She inched a little closer to the pool’s edge, feeling beads of perspiration between her shoulder blades, and her mouth was as dry as the flagstones she was standing on.
Vic held out a hand to her. ‘Come on, one step at a time. It’s shallow here, you won’t be out of your depth.’
I’ve been out of my depth from the moment I met you .
She didn’t say the words out loud but what if he instinctively knew that was how she felt?
She put her trembling hand in the warm steadiness of his.
His fingers closed around hers, gently but firmly and a lightning bolt of longing shot through her body.
His touch was electrifying, the heat of his body sending arrows of lust to her womanhood.
Eek. Why couldn’t she even name her own body parts without using old-fashioned euphemisms? For years, she had denied her feminine needs. She had ignored the primal hum and throb of her flesh, telling herself sensuality wasn’t for her, that it would only lead to more shame and embarrassment.
But since she had met Vic Jacobetti, he had awakened something in her, stirring those sleeping needs into fervent, throbbing life.
She stepped into the silky warm embrace of the water, it rippled against her flesh and enveloped her up to her waist. She was standing so close to Vic, she could see the droplets of water in his hair, glistening like a scattering of diamonds on his broad and tanned shoulders.
‘You don’t have any freckles.’ Arrgh. Why couldn’t she think of something a little more sophisticated to say? But it was all she could think of at the time—his skin was perfect, not a spot or blemish anywhere.
One side of his mouth came up in a half-smile, his eyes glinting as bright as the sunlight on the water enveloping them. ‘I happen to like your freckles.’ His voice had lowered to a deep burr that made her skin tingle.
‘You can have some of mine. I hate them.’ She gave a self-effacing grimace and reminded herself to breathe.
He was still holding her hand and she was secretly glad of it because right then she didn’t think her legs were up to the task of keeping her upright.
The sensation of his fingers wrapped around hers, his hard warm male body within a few millimetres of her, the potent heat of his gaze as it held hers made her feel as if she had entered an entirely different world.
A world where she didn’t have to hide or keep on the sidelines.
A world where she was free of the shackles of the past, free to embrace the full expression of her humanity and her most earthy needs.
Vic’s gaze meshed with hers and something hot and molten trickled down her spine. One of his hands came to rest on her right hip, the other in the small of her back, his body so close she could feel the warmth of his sun-heated skin. ‘Aren’t they supposed to be kisses from the sun?’ he said.
‘Yes, well, they’re the only kisses I’ve had since I was sixteen so I supposed I should be grateful.’
His dark brows moved together over his eyes. ‘Really?’ His incredulous tone reminded her of what a misfit she was. What other woman of twenty-eight was so inexperienced that she had forgotten what a man’s lips felt like? In fact, no man had ever kissed her, only a teenage boy.
Addie couldn’t stop her gaze from drifting to Vic’s mouth. Its sensual contours fascinated her, and she couldn’t help wondering if his lips would be firm or soft or something in between.
Vic’s eyes darkened to pitch and stayed focussed on her mouth. ‘Addie…’ He released a rough-edged sigh and his hand at her back pressed her inexorably closer. ‘I shouldn’t be doing this.’
‘Doing what?’ Addie breathed in the clean male scent of him, her senses spinning, her heart pounding with excitement and anticipation.
‘I want to kiss you.’
A frisson skittered over her flesh. ‘I’d like you to kiss me.’ Her voice came out as a whisper. A fervent whisper of longing.
‘But that’s all we can do, okay?’ His tone was firm, adamantine, but his eyes spoke another language—the language of desire and irresistible temptation. ‘This can’t go any further.’
Addie moistened her lips, her legs trembling with need. ‘Okay.’
Vic lowered his mouth to hers in slow motion, or maybe it just felt that way to Addie.
Time seemed to stand still, the garden around them cloaked in sudden silence, as if nature had taken a collective breath, holding it, waiting for this moment to happen.
His lips touched hers in a light as air touchdown, the gentle imprint of his lips stirring hers into pulsing life.
His lips moved against hers in a caressing motion, still soft, still gentle but she could sense the banked-down passion in every exquisite movement.
His lips moved with increasing urgency against hers, drawing from her a response that was equally passionate—passionate and needy, as if his kiss had awakened something inside her.
Something that would not be so easily ignored now it had taken its first breath, stretched and moved its cramped limbs.
Desire moved through her body like flashing tongues of flame, igniting her, exciting her, delighting her.
Vic’s tongue stroked the seam of her lips and she opened to him on a sigh of pure pleasure, hot tingles shooting down her spine as his tongue played with hers in an erotic dance as old as time.
His kiss bore no resemblance to the rushed and clumsy kisses she had had in the past. Vic’s kiss was leisurely and yet urgent at the same time, evoking a response from her that surprised and delighted her in equal measure.
His hand on her hip moved to cup her face, his head angled to gain better access to her mouth, a soft but deep groan sounding at the back of his throat.
It thrilled Addie to think she was having this effect on him, that her responses were inciting him to greater passion.
She could feel the deep throb of his body as he drew her closer to his hard pelvis.
The contact jolted her like a zap of high voltage electricity, sending arrows of heat straight to her core.
The hollow ache between her legs became unbearable.
A pulsing ache that begged for the possession of his hard male body.
An ache that could not be satisfied by anyone but him.